Glimpses
by BlackRoseDragonCK
Summary: This is a one-shot tribute story for Dan Green. Aknamkanon lost his wife when his son was born...yet, gazing upon the child...he sees something familiar that gives him hope. Sad but hopeful story. Please do not flame this tribute.


**I DO NOT OWN YUGIOH**

**This one-shot is a dedication to Mr. Dan Green and the terrible tragedy that has befallen him. It is told in Aknamkanon's point of view about losing his wife after Atem/Yami was born. This is going to be a bit sad at the beginning, but I tried to instill hope in this piece as it moves along. Dan Green is my acting hero. I've grown up listening to him voice all my favorite characters and it breaks my heart that something like this has happened to him. I know that the odds of him reading this are slim, but I wanted to show that I care just the same.**

**X**

The shock settled on my heart like a dismal fog. Everything seemed…impossible. One moment, it was the happiest day of our lives…the next it was the most terrible tragedy of my existence.

I sat on the bed, staring at the sandstone floor of my Egyptian palace bedroom. As the Pharaoh of Egypt, I dwelled in the most lavish living quarters in my country. Plush furniture…gold-painted walls…murals done in rich colors of royalty…a balcony overlooking the Egyptian sky and my entire kingdom…and yet…I felt like a man who had been robbed of everything. Maybe because I had been robbed…

I forced my weary head to look up…to stare at something other than the floor. I saw the chair in the corner of the room near a wall torch…the chair that I had specially cushioned so that she could sit and read scroll after scroll from the royal library. She was one of the only women I knew who could read…and it was one of her favorite activities. I glanced over at a mural on the far wall of the room depicting one of the radiant Egyptian goddesses. I remembered how I used to stand back whenever she wandered near that wall…and I would marvel at how much prettier she was than any goddess I'd ever seen. I looked to my side at the bed…it still smelled like her…still had a faint imprint of her body….

Finally, I had to stand up. I couldn't stay in that room that looked and smelled so much like her. I went out onto the balcony, my footsteps sounding so loud in the heavy silence. It was cool outside…but I was far too numb to notice. The breeze touched my face…and I could almost hear her melodious voice laced within it.

I placed my hands on the gold-encrusted balcony wall and gazed up at the ebony sky strewn with stars. I had their intricate patterns memorized…for we had spent so many nights on this balcony, talking and laughing of the past and future. It was on this very balcony that she told me she wanted a child…and it was on this very balcony that I realized…I desired the same thing. Never on this balcony, however…did I ever think that I would get the one thing I desperately wanted…and lose the one I loved so dearly in the same instant.

I turned my tired eyes to the city below. The tan, clay buildings glowed a ghostly orange from torch light and people mourned openly in the streets for the loss of their queen. They all loved her, I know they did. She was always so kind to them, caring about each and every individual rather than looking at our kingdom as one great burden. I closed my eyes and thought of her…her loving nature…her intelligence…her confident feistiness…qualities that I would now have to do without.

Footsteps echoed on the hard floor behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and felt the wince pass from my lips. My vizier, Siamun had entered the room. He was a short, stocky man with aged coffee skin and grey hair that was always covered by an Eye of Horus priest's hat. His mouth was concealed by a white cloth…but I could see the sadness shadowing his large, purple eyes. I could also see…the small, white bundle he cradled in his arms.

I had yet to see my child. I was so afraid that I would lose it just like I had lost its mother…that I feared growing attached. Or…perhaps I feared that looking upon the infant would bring up the feelings that arose while I was in my bedroom….that staggering sense of loss…

"Great Pharaoh?" Siamun's gentle voice interrupted my thoughts. "Turn and see your child…for unto you is born the new prince of Egypt."

I couldn't look. I had faced furious dictators, raving assassins, and marauding armies…but nothing compared to the terror I felt then…the terror of what would happen if I turned around…and passed the point of no return.

"Pharaoh Aknamkanon…Siamun prompted, stepping out onto the balcony with me. "I think…you really should look."

I heaved a lengthy sigh…and squared my shoulders. I was the king of Egypt. I had to be strong. I had to face what petrified me the most. I gazed at my vizier, and in doing so, stepped out of the past and into my future.

Siamun approached me, placed the warm bundle in my arms, and gave a respectful bow before leaving me alone…with my son. I stared down at that precious, new…yet familiar face.

His skin was a light coffee, his thickly-lashed eyes brushing against full, soft cheeks. A mop of unruly, tri-colored hair rested upon his head and he kept his tiny hands balled into fists, as if displaying the strength he would no doubt possess as the next Pharaoh.

I reached out, slowly, feeling entranced by this tiny person. I tickled his nose lightly with the tip of my finger and he gave a soft coo. His eyes opened…and I felt a wave of familiarity wash over me. My child stared up at me with eyes that were so much like hers…not necessarily in color…but in the way they gazed. It was that same deep, searching glance she would give me so often. Then, his eyes crinkled into a smile…a smile that was exactly like hers.

I couldn't stop the loving grin that twisted my lips. It felt foreign…but this little being filled me with such love, such tenderness…that I could not help but smile. Cradling him even closer, I moved my hand from his soft face to his tiny hands. He cooed and grabbed my finger. His grip was strong, but not overbearing. It had a kind of gentleness to it…strong and gentle just like his mother.

Smiling fully, I carried my baby into the bedroom and placed him in the small bed that was specially made for him. He stared up at me, a look of wonder in those big, searching eyes of his…and for the first time…I thought that perhaps I had not completely lost her…

As the years go by, I see more and more of my wife in the child she left me. Atem, as I named him, has her intelligence. He applies it to puzzles and games, each day astounding me more and more with how unbelievably bright he is. Whenever he concentrates, his sharp eyes narrow with the same intense look of concentration…the expression she always bore whenever she was reading or trying to solve the problems of the world.

His voice reminds me of hers. It is pleasant and musical, yet it has the ability of being commanding and fierce like mine. Atem's laugh is soft like hers and he smirks the way she did whenever she knew she was right. My son has my serious disposition but he also has her kindness and occasional feistiness.

He is so much his own person…yet when I look at Atem I see his mother as well….and as I gaze upon the child I love so dearly…I realize that she will never be completely gone. I will always miss his mother…but I will always see glimpses of her…through him.

**I know it's not the best, but I hope it was all right. If you ever read this, you are a hero to so many of us, Dan, and you are going to be a hero to those beautiful children as well. I hope my readers liked and feel free to review. Please don't flame as this is it is a tribute rather than a regular story :).**

**I DO NOT OWN YUGIOH**


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